Hydrocarbon conversion process



, Patented Jul 31, 19,45

um'rsp I STATES PATENT orncs mnocannou o izsn asrou mocsss I a I I James C. Bailie, Chicago, 111., assignor to Standard Oil Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Indiana No Drawing. Application December 31, 1941. Serial No. 425,141

11 Claims.

naphtha, to increase the knock rating. When the process is used for reforming gasoline,,a higher temperature is ordinarily employed, than for cracking.

, One of the objects of my process isto convert hydrocarbon oils into high knock rating gasoline by the use of a catalyst which may be employed for a relatively long time before regeneration is .necessary. Another' object of my invention is to provide a process for. catalytic cracking or reforming, in-which the production of carbon and carbonaceous material is relatively small, thusreducing the loss of oil as represented by carbonaceous products of negligible value and I facilitate the regeneration of the catalyst by burning. A further object of my inventionis to obtain a better product distribution. Yetanother object is to provide a catalyst resistant to high temperature.

The material which Iemploy as catalyst in my process. is aluminum fluosilicate, the chemical formula of which is approximately Ah(S1Fc) a, particularly in combination with magnesium oxide. This compound may be ma'de'by treating aluminum oxide, or better aluminum hydroxide, with fluosilicic acid, or alternatively, an alumi num salt, e. 3., aluminum sulfate may be treated with sodium fluosilicate or other soluble fluosilicate to form the desired product. The-aluminum fluosilicate produced in this manner is an insoluble powder which may be filtered from the reaction -mixture and pressed, molded or extruded into pellets or other form presenting a large surface for use in: the crackingoperation.

Various other methods may be employed for making the 'aluminumfluosilicate catalyst, for

example; aluminum fluoride may be caused to react with silicon tetrafluoride, viz:

I employ this method in preparing the cats- 5 lyst in situ. Thus, I may aluminum fluoride in the reaction zone of my cracking process and then introduce silicon tetrafluoride gas, permitting the catalyst to be formed on the surface of the material in the reaction zone. I

may use various supports or so-called carriers for my catalyst ,such as silica sand, silica gel, charcoal, bauxite, alumina gel, kieselguhr, fullers earth, etc. and the catalyst may be deposited on the surface of the carrier by the wet method or by the method just described, or the aluminum fluosilicate may be milled or mixed intimately with the carrier or other ingredient.

-I may employ aluminum fluosilicate as an addition agent with other hydrocarbon conversion catalysts. For example, Imay mix a minor proportion of aluminum fluosilicate with activated clay such as Super. Filtrol, with silica gel and with various metal oxides such as. aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, titanium oxide and {aluminum or magnesium oxide 'in combination with active silica. In preparing these combination catalysts, the aluminum iiuosilicate is preferably added to the catalyst in amounts of about 1 to 10% or as much as 20 to 50%. The aluminum fluosilicate promoter has been found to increase the activity of the catalyst to which it is added and also reduce the formation of fixed gases and carbon.

In carrying out my process, I prefer to employ completely vaporizable oilsor so-called clean cracking stocks such as gas oil, kerosene or heavy naphtha. In the case of gas oil, I prefer to vaporize the oil at a temperature of about 800 to l025 E, for example 925 F'., and conduct ,the hot vaporsthrough the catalyst disposed in a porous bed. The catalyst may be retained in a restricted zone provided with suitable temperature control means in crderto regulate the temperature ofthe vapors undergoing conversion or the catalyst may be suspended as a powder in the oil vapors.

The conversion reaction is usually endothermic and requiresthe introduction of additional heat.. In the case of heavy naphtha conversion, I may employ somewhat higher temperatures, e. g.,-850 to 1100? F. for example 1000 I". Hydrogen may also bepresent-generallv in an amount of" about 1 to 4 volumes per volume of'naphtha o vapor-treated. In general, I prefer to conduct sures, for example, 5 to 50 pounds per square inch, although higher pressures'may be employed if desired such as 100 to 500 pounds Per 7 tionatingapparatus where the gasoline is separated from the heavy hydrocarbons and the latter may be recycled to the conversion process ,except in the case of gasoline reforming, in which case the process is best operated on the once through" basis. The gasoline fraction is separated from undesirable fixed gases such as propane and, if desired. the gases. especially hydrogen-containing gases, may be recycled also to the conversion process.

The following data will illustrate the results obtained in one run with my aluminum fluosilicate catalyst. The oiltreatedwas 35'. A. P. I. Mid-Continent gas oil. l

Catalyst fig? Run 2 Weight of catalyst, gms 67. 7 Vol. of catalyst space, c. c..- 117.0 Cracking temperature, F 926.0 926.0

Atmnnnhn'k; Feed rate c. e. per hour 141.0 Vol. of feed per vol. of catalyst chamber per hour l. 20 Bbls. (42 gals.) feed per ton of catalyst 13.9 Time of con secs 8.6 0.8 Length of run, hours 6. g 6. Recovery, wt. per cent of feed 98. 2 Once through yields:

gas, wt. per can 1.43 1. 61 Gasoline, vol percent 9.01 8.8 Cycle stock, vol. 87. 7 Gasoline produ l2. 8 Gas, lbs. per gal. of gaso l. 11 as, it. g al. oi I) 17 c grav ry gas a rasoline, end point 4m+4 Gravity, A. P. I. 55.0 Knock rating, A. S. 'l. M. (from blends) 84. 4 Unssturates, per cent 70. B C lReiractlilve ind ex]. t. i. 4319:

yc e gas 0 en po 11 Gravity, A. P. I 3.5. 6 50% point (A. S. '1. M. distillation)--." 562 Unsstursteaser cent l9. 3 Refractive in ex 1.4718

One or the outstanding characteristics of my new hydrocarbon conversion catalyst is the negligible amount of carbonaceous deposit which forms on the catalyst. In Run 2 above, the carbon formed onthe catalyst was only 03%. Ac-

cordingly, with this catalyst it is possible to make. longer runs with less frequent shutdowns for reother catalyst, inv this case Super Filtrol, an'

acid activated montmorillonite clay. Ten percent of the aluminum fluosilicatewas mixed thoroughly with the Super 'Filtrol and molded into pellets. Mid-Continent gas oil was subjected to cracking by passing the vapors at the assasaa V the conversion operation at relatively low prestemperature of 925' I". over Super Flltrol in one case and in the other case Super Flltrol promoted with 10% Of aluminum fluosilicate. The results are as follows 5 It will be noted from these data that the catalyst promoted with aluminum fluosilicate produced more gasoline and less gas as indicated by the gas to gasoline ratio. The improvement in the knock rating is also significant.

In another example, gas oil of 35.5 A. P. I. was cracked to about the same gasoline yield using three different catalysts and the carbon formation was found to be very much less with the aluminum fluosilicate catalyst. The data follow:

Rm. No.

. Catalyst Silica gel Silica gel 3 +207 +sbout About). 2% 1.1.0.

Gssolino'vol. sea, 2.5.7 35.0 Cubom'wt. puosnt 0.8 1.8 1.2 Knock rating, A. B. '1. M. 10.8 80.0 79. 0

The following data illustrate still. further the low carbon forming tendency of fluosilicate treated catalysts. Mid-Continent gas oil of 35.5" A. P. I. was cracked for 2-hour reaction periods at a space velocity of 1. The results follow:

As above indicated. one of the characteristics of my aluminum fluosilicate catalyst isthe high heat stability and I have discovered that aluminum fluosilicate imparts heat stability to other catalysta'particularly to magnesia-silica catalysts. The following data show the effect'of adding 20% aluminum fluosilicate to a silica-magnesia catalyst containing about 22% to 25% of magnesia mixed with silica gel. The data given were obtained inthe cracking of 35.5' A. P. 1.8

Mid-Continent gas oil. amas r.

d a' space velocity of one volume of oil per h ur per volume of catalyst.

tially of magnesium oxide and aluminum fluosilicate. e

2. The process of converting hydrocarbon oils Total in Mir. I.

Gasoline Catalyst "35 sac-hummin period Initial 1,210'1. 1,soo r. 1,4oo r.

. Patent Percent Percent BiOI( 5% -M 0059') 46.9 as as as 21 r l o0 truism.-." no 61 u a 7 s7 7 I 10 lb. Reid vapor more.

1 The total convers oiilis given are determined by subtracting from 100 the total D6168! recovered B88 0 In preparing my catalyst I prefer to incorporate the aluminum fluosilicate in other hydrocarbon conversion catalysts, particularly the metal oxide gels such as silica gel, alumina gel vor magnesia gel or combinations of them. Thus, I may thoroughly mix the aluminum fluosilicate with silica add to the silica hydrogel, magnesium oxide or aluminum oxide, preferably in an amount of about 1 to All three ingredients. may be mixed simultaneously after which the'gel mixture is dried, pelleted or graded to produce the desired granular catalyst br'it may be ground to a fine powder where the catalyst is intended to be used as a suspension in the hydrocarbon vapors.

The alumina employed in preparing the mixed catalysts just described-may be an alumina gel prepared by coagulation of alumina sol derived from the action of dilute acid on metallic aluminum or by the action of acid on sodium aluininateor other suitable salt. Alumina suitable for preparing a mixed catalyst as described above mayalso be prepared by treating an aqueous solution of a salt of aluminum such as aluminum sulfate with a base material. I prefer toemploy in my catalyst fluosilicate of aluminum, but other fluosilicates may be employed such as magnesium, beryllium, cerium, and thorium fluosilicates, and in general, the fluosilicates of the metals of groups II, III and IV of the periodic system.

Although I have described my invention with respect to certain applications thereof, Iintend that it be defined only by the following claims. I claim:

. 1. The-process ofconverting hydrocarbon oils into high knock rating motor fuels which comprises subjecting said oils at conversion temperatures to the action pfa' catalyst consisting esseninto 'gasolineof high knock rating comprising subjecting said oils at conversion temperatures to the action of a solid catalyst comprising an intimate mixture of silica, magnesiaand aluminum fluosilicate.

3. The process of claim 2 wherein said silica is 1 a silica gel.

4. The process of claim 2 wherein said catalyst is prepared by thoroughly mixing aluminum fluosilicate and magnesia. with silica hydrogel followed by drying and igniting the mixture.

5. .The process of reforming low knock rating naphtha which comprises contacting the vapors of said naphtha at reforming temperature with a solid conversion catalyst comprising a mixture of active silica'and magnesia promoted with aluminum fluosilicate. l

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the catalyst contains about 5% to of magnesia and abou 1% to 25% of aluminum fluosillcate.

.7. The process of claim 5 wherein hydrogen is added to said naphtha vapors in the, presence of v said catalyst.

8. The process of cracking heavy hydrocarbon oils which comprises.contacting said oils with a catalyst comprising magnesium oxide and a fluosilicate of a metal selected from the class con- .sisting of groups II, III and IV of the periodic system. g

9. The process of converting hydrocarbon oils which comprises contactingsaid oils at conversion temperature with a catalyst comprising active silica and magnesia intimately mixed with a fluo-. silicate of a metal selected 'fromthe class consisting of groups II, III and IV of the periodic system.

10. A hydrocarbon conversion catalyst com-' prising magnesia and a solid, refractory, insoluble fluosilicate in intimate admixture therewith.

11. "The process of converting hydrocarbon oils into high knock rating motor fuels which comprises subjecting said oils at conversion temperatures .to the action of a catalyst consisting essentially of magnesia and a solid refractory insoluble fluosilicate in intimate admixture therewith.

. C v JAMES C. BAILIE. 

